The Resurrection Of The Lord
MATTHEW 28:1-10 (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8)
The liturgy for Easter Sunday gives us the option of using John 20:1-9 or Matt 28:1-10.
The topic of both readings is the discovery of the empty tomb by disciples of Jesus. In addition Matthew includes an annunciation by an angel of the resurrection of Jesus with further instructions, plus an appearance of Jesus to his faithful women disciples. The reading from Matthew is also the gospel for the Vigil. Since many do not participate in the Easter Vigil, let’s examine this reading from Matthew.
Jesus’ disciples were faithful, observant Jews. The body of Jesus was buried late on the previous Friday evening. Observant Jews rested on the Sabbath – the seventh day of the week. Therefore Matthew begins, “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning…,” or as we would say, “Early Sunday morning….” There were quite a few Marys connected with the Christian movement. Besides the mother of Jesus, one Mary stood out beyond the others. She was called “Mary of Magdala,” or Mary Magdalene because she was from the city of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
“Magdala” means “tower.” The city seems to have gotten its name from a fish-drying tower located there for the convenience of the fishing industry of the Sea of Galilee.
There was a group of wealthy women-disciples of Jesus who supported his ministry in Galilee. Mary of Magdala was one of these. See Luke 8:1-3. There is no evidence in the gospels that Mary of Magdala was a former prostitute. That label was first attached to her two hundred years later by the Church Father Tertullian, and was then taken up by Pope Gregory the Great who died in 604. Magdalene was a wealthy disciple and supporter of Jesus. With another Mary she was first on the scene on that memorable morning. They do not come to anoint the body of Jesus as they do in Mark and Luke. For Matthew the anointing of Jesus’ body had already taken place in the house of Simon the leper at Bethany when a woman poured precious ointment on Jesus’ head. As the two women approached the tomb of Jesus, there was “a great earthquake,” the fourth earthquake noticed only by Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew’s theology, formed by the Old Testament, earthquakes are a sign of God’s intervention in history.
Matthew gives the immediate cause of the earthquake: “An angel of the Lord descended from heaven…, and rolled back the stone.” Many burial places were carved into the relatively soft stone of hillside cliffs. In a groove constructed for the purpose, a round stone was rolled across the opening to the tomb. The guards posted by Pilate went into shock out of fear of what they saw happening and “became like dead men.” The angel proceeds to an annunciation, “Do not be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus the crucified one. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.” The angel invites the women to see the place where Jesus’ body had been placed in the tomb.
Further instructions: the women are commanded by the angel to report Jesus’ resurrection to his disciples. This is especially notable since the witness of women was not usually considered reliable. Neither the angel, nor God who sent the angel, are bound by human prejudice against women or by male chauvinism. The text of the women’s message to the disciples follows. First, an annunciation of Jesus’ resurrection. Then an appointment to meet Jesus in Galilee. In Galilee he had first called his disciples to follow him, and in Galilee they would see him for the last time, no longer as the village carpenter who had begun a ministry of teaching and healing. They would see him vindicated and with the authority of God himself.
To some extent Matthew has been following Mark’s version of these events, but now makes a profound change. Mark had ended the women’s encounter with the angel by closing his gospel with these words, “Trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.” Mark carries the theme of abandonment of Jesus to the very end, when even the faithful women do not fulfill the command of the angel to report Jesus’ resurrection. Matthew will have none of this final abandonment. From Mark’s version he keeps only the fear of the women, but adds compliance with the angel’s directions, “They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
Matthew’s theology will not allow these faithful women of Galilee, disciples and supporters of Jesus’ ministry, to go unrewarded. Jesus himself, the risen Lord, meets them and greets them. They recognize him, “embrace his feet and worship him.” Encounters with the supernatural unsettle human beings. Jesus assures them as did the angel, “Do not be afraid!” His message is a bit different from that of the angel, “Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” We are left with a mystery. Are the brothers the earlier mentioned disciples, or are they the extended family of Jesus of which Mathew wrote in 13:55-56? One of these “brothers” mentioned in Matthew 13 later became the leader of the Christian community at Jerusalem and was martyred there in 62 A.D.
Happy Easter!
